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Warner slams ‘very, very poor scheduling’
AUSTRALIA vice-captain David Warner has labelled as “very, very poor” the scheduling decision that will lead to Australia playing a Twenty20 international at home the day before they begin a Test series in India. The Test players will have a long preparation for the first Test in Pune, spending up to two weeks training on spinning pitches at the ICC Academy in Dubai before heading to India for a warm-up game in Mumbai. However, while the Test players are acclimatising in Asia, a T20 team will be representing Australia in three internationals at home against Sri Lanka. The T20s take place in Melbourne, Geelong and Adelaide on February 17, 19 and 22, and the first Test in India begins on February 23. That means several members of Australia’s first-choice T20 side - including Warner, captain Steven Smith, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Starc - will be unable to play in the T20s, while others such as Glenn Maxwell could yet
David Warner
find themselves in the Test squad too. “Scheduling is obviously Cricket Australia’s area,” Warner said in an interview with Fox Sports. “They play the big role in putting that on. “For me, it’s about going out there and playing the game and not worrying too much about that. In saying that, it is very, very poor scheduling. To have your Test team going away to play a Test match ... it doesn’t make any sense to us.
“I don’t like it. Those of us who are part of the T20 team have a bigger goal and bigger picture, and that is to win a World Cup. You want to be putting your best team on the park all the time. At the end of the day, you’ve got Big Bash and IPL. “If me, Smithy, Starcy, Ussy, Shaun Marsh -- all these guys that are in the Australian T20 team from the previous World Cup -- if we are not playing any T20 cricket in Australia where the next World Cup is meant to be, it becomes quite a tough thing for selectors to work around. “We have one-day stuff where you can put your foot down and prove some things, but for me it’s about playing my best in any of the three formats that you play.” A World T20 is scheduled to be held in Australia in 2020, but there remains the possibility of an event in 2018 as well. Australia are yet to win a World T20 title, having only once made the final, when they were in 2010. (ESPNcricinfo)
GUYANA CHRONICLE Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Sharapova to return from doping ban in April MARIA Sharapova will make her professional comeback at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart on April 26 after her 15-month doping suspension. The 29-year-old former world number one was given a two-year ban in March after testing positive for meldonium. Her suspension was then reduced in October following an appeal. The tournament in Germany starts two days before the Russian’s suspension runs out and she will not be allowed to attend until the day of her match. Sharapova, whose main sponsor is Porsche, will return to tennis without a ranking and needs a wild card to enter the tournament. “I could not be happier to have my first match back on tour at one of my favourite tournaments,” she said.
“I can’t wait to see all my great fans and to be back doing what I love.” The five-time Grand Slam champion won the Stuttgart title for three years in a row from 2012 to 2014. She last played a professional tournament at the Australian Open 12 months ago, where she failed the
doping test. Sharapova was a longtime user of meldonium and says she was unaware it had been added to the banned list at the start of 2016. She has already taken part in two exhibition events since her ban was reduced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. (BBC Sport).
Maria Sharapova has not played a professional match since the Australian Open in January 2016.
Saintfiet begs for patience to develop Soca Warriors
COUVA, Trinidad (CMC) – Tom Saintfiet appealed for more time to shape the Trinidad & Tobago Soca Warriors into a formidable force following elimination from the CONCACAF Gold Cup qualifiers.
An extra-time brace from Andrew Jean-Baptiste upstaged a hat-trick from Shahdon Winchester and saw Haiti continue on the road to the Gold Cup, following a 4-3 victory over T&T on Sunday at the Ato Boldon Stadium in this central Trinidad town. The result followed the Soca Warriors splitting a pair of friendlies with Nicaragua and losing 2-1 in extra time against Suriname in another Gold Cup qualifier. “I had very limited time,” said Saintfiet. “I came here a week before the games started and I had to select a squad, so I was seeing some matches and I was counting on advice.” Many of the top Soca Warriors players were not
Tom Saintfiet
available, due to one reason or another and Saintfiet said this affected the competitiveness of his side. “We had no FIFA dates and we invited Khaleem Hyland, Jan-Michael Williams, Levi Garcia, John Bostock, Kevin Molino, Joevin Jones, Cordell Cato and Mekeil Williams (and all of them could not show up),” he said. “We invited a lot of players who were not available for several reasons, not released because of FIFA dates or personally not ready to perform for
the team. “There are consequences if you have a lot of good players missing for such important games. On the other side, I saw in these two weeks the boys growing, working very hard and I think even the local people discovered some local players that they never expected to play at this level.” Saintfiet said the matches allowed him to get a better grasp of the depth of the playing assets available to the Soca Warriors. “I have some good experiences of working with the boys and for sure some of the players proved that in the future they have to be on the squad, but in the four matches in two weeks’ time, I learnt that some people are maybe not yet ready for it,” he said.Saintfiet will now turn his attention in the coming weeks to fine-tuning the side for resumption of World Cup qualification in March, when they are due to face Panama.